John Brain challenged Worcester Warriors to remain unbeaten at Sixways the rest of this season – after a battling draw with Wasps reinforced his belief the club will beat the drop.
Warriors were forced to settle for two points from a tense Friday night showdown despite dominating for long periods against high-flying Wasps.
Director of Rugby Brain insisted his side should have claimed all the points on offer and a first home league victory of the season.
But he remained positive and praised both his players and the Sixways crowd for their part in an enthralling encounter.
“We would like to make sure we don’t lose a game on this ground until the end of the season now,” said Brain.
“The crowd were very good against Wasps. They responded to the players and were excellent. It was getting back to what it has been like in the past.
“Nobody would have gone home entirely satisfied, but the supporters can take heart from a lot of what they saw.
“If you look at the stats the team that finishes bottom is usually the team that concedes the most tries. In the last six Guinness Premiership matches our defence is up there with the best four teams in the league never mind the bottom four, we are certainly getting that right.
“Out set piece is returning to what I would regard as normality, we are consistently pushing people around, but the major work-on area is the fact that we are turning the ball over too often to the opposition. We need to keep the ball to score tries or get penalties.
“Two points wasn’t enough out of this game but it is not a disaster. What we have to hope now is the teams around us don’t get anything out of their games, it is that simple.”
Shane Drahm and Dave Walder exchanged penalties as the points were ultimately shared at Sixways.
But Brain knew his side should have secured a crucial win after dominating the set piece.
“We had opportunities, we had a kick that hit the post and missed other penalties,” he said.
“But the main factor why we didn’t win the game was that we turned over the ball in an unforced fashion on too many occasions. I wouldn’t even credit their defence with anything, it was our poor attack and some poor decision making. We were a little bit better in the second half but that is the major area we need to work on as a team.
“However, I have got to praise the players because they put everything into that game.
“The defence was outstanding and our set piece was very good, we did more to Wasps in the set-piece than either Perpignan or Castres.
Brain was also full of praise for Craig Gillies who dominated the line-out and impressed all night with his general play.
“Craig has really come into his own recently, his game outside the set piece has improved and I thought he played very well and thoroughly deserved man-of-the-match,” he added.